A listener in San Antonio is trying to decide how to address a mixed-gender graduating class from her nonprofit’s fellowship program. Alumnae is the plural for an all-female group of former students, while alumni works for an all-male group or a co-ed group. The singular forms are alumnus for a man and alumna for a woman, all from Latin terms connected with nourishment and alma mater. For a less formal context, alum and alums are often simpler alternatives. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Alumnae, Alumni, Alumnus, and Alumna: Which Form to Use”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, my name is Deya Zavala. I’m in San Antonio.
Hi, Deya. Welcome to the show.
Hi. I’m so excited. Sorry.
Deya. That’s a great name. How do you spell that?
It’s D-E-Y-A.
D-E-Y-A. Okay. Well, welcome.
Thank you.
What would you like to talk with us about?
So I have a little debate going on around the office.
I work for a nonprofit organization based in San Antonio, and we’re a national organization.
And we have a fellowship program, which typically we graduate every single year.
So we’re in our third year, and our graduating class is actually coming up.
And so I’m not sure how to address them.
So my question for you is related to alumni, alum, and alumni with an N-I or is it N-A-E?
Mm-Okay.
So you were addressing one group of people who used to attend the university, and you need to address them all together as a body of people.
Correct.
Okay.
Okay. And so your question is, do you want alumni with an I or alumni with an AE at the end? Is that your question?
Yes. And it’s a mixed gender class.
Okay.
And so we had a little bit of a debate whether one is for females, is one for males, or who are we addressing, or should we just go with the typical alum, A-L-U-M, just be easy.
Yeah, a lot of people get confused with these words, and the problem is that they’re both adopted into English.
They come from the Latin word alumnus, which means student.
Originally, it meant somebody who’s nourished.
So it comes from the Latin word for nourish.
And so your alma mater is your nourishing mother.
And in English, alumni with the I at the end refers to male graduates or a mixture of male and female graduates.
So that’s the one you’re going to want.
If they’re only female graduates, then you want the feminine ending, which is A-E and is pronounced alumni.
Alumni.
Alumni, not alumnae, right?
Right.
Because people do say alumni.
Yeah, yeah.
It’s mainly alumni.
And it gets even more confusing because these pronunciations are exactly the opposite in Latin.
And so if you know Latin, then it gets confusing.
But that’s the traditional rule.
So for your group of male and female graduates, you’re going to want alumni.
That’s the plural.
It gets complicated in modern times because we have a sensitivity to sexism and discrimination.
For example, my school, Vassar, now has an Office of Alumni Affairs, but they spell it A-L-U-M-N-A-E slash I.
Oh, okay.
Isn’t that funny?
No.
Okay.
And some people call it alumni.
But what you want is alumni with an I for that mixed group.
Let me ask you, Martha, where would Deya be if she just wanted to be a little more informal and say alums? Is that too informal for reaching out to past graduates?
Well, I think it depends on the context.
It is regarded as more informal.
So it depends on the situation, alums.
Alums.
Yeah.
Do you use alums, Deya?
I use alums because it’s easier and I don’t have to figure out, well, am I using it correctly or incorrectly?
And I guess I also have the added layer of being a Spanish speaker.
And so I like to either figure out if it’s a male or female, you know, the interchangeable language.
So that adds another little layer to the whole concept of debate on it.
Yeah, and the traditional rule is like Spanish in that if you have one male in that graduating class of 100, it’s still alumni, right?
It’s still the masculine ending.
I think I might speak with alum.
Oh, really?
You’re going to stick with the link?
Okay.
But, yeah, I guess it does depend on the context if it’s more of an informal, because we are kind of an informal group of people, but if I guess we’re addressing them in the context of, like, a funder or in front of a large panel.
Yeah, you’re certainly safe that way.
Yeah.
Thanks for calling.
I hope it all works out.
It does.
Thank you so much.
Okay, great.
Take care now.
Bye-bye.
Thanks.
Bye.
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